Ministry of Education
Dr. Subhas Sarkar inaugurates an Online Consultative Workshop on Reforms in Assessment, Accreditation and Ranking of Higher Educational Institutions
Stakeholder feedback being sought on Dr Radhakrishnan Committee Report for Transformative Reforms for Assessment and Accreditation of HEIs
Dr. Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State for Education inaugurated an Online Consultative Workshop on Reforms in Assessment, Accreditation and Ranking of HEIs today. The workshop was organized by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with IIT, Gandhinagar.
The National Education Policy , 2020 emphasizes upon the need for adopting a simple, trust-based, objective and rationalized system for approval, accreditation and ranking of Higher Educational Institutions  with a verifiable and secured centralized database through technology-driven modern systems.
In the backdrop of the NEP 2020, the need for strengthening the assessment and accreditation of HEIs has been imminent. Presently, multiple agencies like National Assessment & Accreditation Council , National Board of Accreditation  and National Institutional Ranking Framework  have been mandated for periodic approvals, assessment, accreditation and ranking of HEIs. The low level of willingness of HEIs to volunteer for this process continues to be a cause of concern. Further the duplicity of the required burdensome information to be submitted by the HEIs for different agencies acts as a deterrent for the HEIs to come forth for Assessment & Accreditation .
The UGC & AICTE have introduced several reforms over the years for simplification of the existing Assessment, Accreditation& Ranking processes. Further, for strengthening the A&A of HEIs, the Government of India has constituted a High Level Committee, under the Chairmanship of Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIT Kanpur & Chairperson, Standing Committee of IIT Council. A Sub-Committee under the Chairpersonship of Prof. Rajat Moona, Director, IIT, Gandhinagar was also constituted for examining the existing data structures being adopted by different agencies and for developing a unified data segment applicable for different categories of HEIs. The overarching Dr. Radhakrishnan Committee, after a series of deliberations, has submitted its draft Report on ‘Transformative Reforms for Strengthening Periodic Assessment and Accreditation of All Higher Educational Institutions in India’. This report was placed in the public domain from 19th May, 2023 to 22nd June, 2023 to seek feedback/suggestions from all the stakeholders for finalization of the Report. The last date for seeking feedback/suggestions from all the stakeholders for finalization of this Report, placed in the public domain, has been extended upto 15th July, 2023. The report is available on the website of the Ministry of Education and the “MY GOV” portal.
Further, for ensuring the new system for Accreditation/ Assessment/ Ranking, being proposed by the Dr. Radhakrishnan Committee, may be finalized and launched by 31st December, 2023, an Implementation Committee for Reforms in Assessment, Accreditation & Ranking has also been constituted by the Government of India under the Chairpersonship of Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, National Educational Technology Forum .
As a part of stakeholder consultation, an Online Consultative Workshop on Reforms in Assessment, Accreditation and Ranking of HEIs was organised today.
Dr. K. Radhakrishnan made a presentation on the proposed reforms. Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe made a presentation on the status of implementation of these reforms. Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman, UGC; Prof. T. G Sitharam, Chairman, AICTE; Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, NETF; Shri. K. Sanjay Murthy, Secretary Higher Education, Prof. Rajat Moona, Director, IIT, Gandhinagar, heads of all categories of Institutions; including Central Universities, IITs, IIITs, NITs, State Universities, Private Universities, Deemed to be Universities and State Open Universities; actively participated in this workshop and provided valuable inputs. 34 eminent panelists shared their ideas during the workshop which was attended by more than 950 participants from HEIs across the country including heads of institutions.